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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27673918">Marriage, Old Age and a Lot of Little Blue Children</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/techybae/pseuds/techybae'>techybae</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Children of Characters, F/F, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Friendship, Healing, Next Generation, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:00:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,144</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27673918</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/techybae/pseuds/techybae</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The end was only the beginning. After ending the war to end all wars, our heroes deserve their happy ending. Follow along with Sarah Shepard and Liara T'Soni in their life after the war as they love and heal, and eventually make the home and family that felt so far away in the throngs of war.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Shepard &amp; Liara T'Soni, Female Shepard/Liara T'Soni, Minor or Background Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The End of the Beginning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I've made many attempts over the years to write this story. In part, the reason for it is therapeutic, a way to bring the happy ending I desire to the characters I love, and in part, it's a desire to flesh out and continue the stories I've read and fallen in love with in that time. One author in particular has been extremely influential in making me finally make a (moreso than the previous) attempt at finishing this project. Celticknotgirl, or Kat, a Deviantart author who was my first introduction into the often emotionally chaotic world of Mass Effect fanfiction, and who also ended up being my favorite author. A master of the heartstrings, even today nearly a decade later her short stories and one-shots still bring me to tears with every re-read. Sadly Kat passed away in a tragic accident in 2012, and though I didn't know her, I feel the loss of a person who despite that fact, meant much to me. This story is, in part, in honour of her. She showed me for the first time a world “beyond the Reapers” that I found both enthralling (no pun intended) yet supremely believable. Someone who, like me, could find a story in slices of life rather than grand adventures, for what greater adventure than simply living is there, really?</p><p>With that in mind, this will be a purely fluff fic. While there will be some hardship, you can expect happy endings all around. And while there will be drama, it will be supremely normal. These characters have suffered enough, and a happy ending once and for all is well deserved. Given that, if you're looking for epic battles, military tactics or Council politicking, this one might not be for you. There will be some dark themes early on, some healing, angst and PTSD, but overall this is the happy ending my girls deserved. If you do decide to proceed, I hope you enjoy Marriage, Old Age and a Lot of Little Blue Children.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sarah Shepard was no stranger to staring death in the face. Hell, she'd even played this game and lost once already, the miracle of being gifted the chance at a re-match notwithstanding. Yet, as she stood facing the three brighly glowing conduits, the eyes of the perverse child-avatar of the greatest enemy to sapient kind burning her neck, she couldn't remember ever feeling more exposed, more alone. Even those last depserate moments in the skies over Alchera so long ago, her body burning as her suits stimpacks desperately tried to keep her alive and by so doing making sure she'd remain awake for every excruciating moment of it didn't compare. This was a different kind of dread, a different kind of abyss, impossibly greater and more daunting than something so trivial as her own impending death. Because as hard as this decision was, her own demise didn't factor into it. In her heart she'd somehow without even realizing it made peace with that part, she'd die here, and there would be no do-overs this time around. As surprising as that realization was, the lack of fear was even more so. She wasn't afraid, she felt only a profound sadness. She'd never see her friends again, she'd never see her mother again. Hannah Shepard was a strong woman, the stronest Sarah had ever known, but she would put her through the pain of losing her only child, her only family, for a second time, a miracle cruelly snatched from her hands and if Sarah was honest with herself she wasn't sure if it wouldn't completely break her this time. <i>'If she's even alive...'</i> . She'd never see Liara gain. <i>'… Liara'</i>. Sarah shook her head, the darkness was creeping back into the corners of her eyes. She had to make a decision, because while she would die here, she'd make damn sure that all of them would live. It would have to be without her, but they would live.</p><p>One option was clearly out. Controlling the Reapers was impossible, no matter what the child-abominitation said, Jack Harper had proved that much, enough for her to not even entertain the possibility. Besides, in terms of existential dread the thought of controlling a race of ancient machines as some sort of cybernetic godess was, if anything, more terrifying than simply dying. She might be able to do it in the short term, retain her humanity long enough to rebuild the galaxy and retreat with her new minions to the great black beyond the galaxy. But eventually she'd lose herself, eventually she'd forget. And she would be the new Catalyst, and it would all start all over again. That was unacceptable. Forcing all sentient life to change was better, but not by much. It felt like a supreme violation of autonomy. And if you change people so profoundly, would they even be the same people as before? Wouldn't doing that essentially kill every single individual and replace them with... something else? The wonderful, diverse melting pot that was the galactic community would become a dreary uniform mass, stagnant forever. No, no, if she did that the Reapers would well and truly have won, as evidenced by the fact that the... thing obviously wanted her to make that particular decision. It wasn't even trying to be subtle about it. <i>'Then again'</i> she thought <i>'subtelty has never really been the sharpest spear in the Reaper arsenal'</i>. That left the option to simply destroy them all. Appealing for obvious reasons, but the collateral damage would be intense. She thought of Legion, who had given his life for his people. How could she just... kill them all? How could she decide that their deaths were worth the lives of the rest of the galaxy? Garrus would say that the math made sense, and of course it did, but that didn't make it right. She thought of EDI. Her friend EDI. If she did this, it would be as good as pressing her Phalanx to EDIs temple and pulling the trigger.</p><p>“Your time is at an end. You must decide.” the abomination said from behind her.</p><p>She shook her head again, more violently this time, her head and neck muscles screaming. There was no other choice, it had to end. She'd take her chances that she could atone for her sins  in hell, but it had to be done.</p><p>She set her jaw tightly and turned around “Fuck you” she said, then turned back and hobbled with determination towards the red conduit, emptying her clip into. The faces of her friends, her family, flashed before her eyes, the pained face of Anderson as he drew his last breath, her mothers tear stained face when she came back from the dead, a pair of deep azure eyes filled with love. <i>'Please forgive me, I love you... '</i></p><p>The casing cracked and the flames engulfed her, the bright light and searing pain lasting for only a moment, and Sarah Shepard was plunged into unfeeling darkness.</p><p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p><p>Jeff 'Joker' Moreau was not a nimble man. On two feet he often felt like an imp from some old Earth story book, hobbling along the walkways at a snails pace hissing at the humans who dared to get too close. Ever since he was a child he'd felt like he was just in the way, and not rarely like a burden to those around him. But in the pilots seat of a ship, he was an artist, and to the great chagrin of those who served with him he was fully aware of it, and none to shy about boasting about it either. But now, as his fingers danced across the haptic screens at near inhuman speeds, he didn't feel much like bragging, and a primal fear kept nagging at the deep recesses of his mind. He'd never been in a fight like this, never faced this kind of a challenge, and every second he felt the end drawing closer, that pivotal point where his human brain simply couldn't keep up. He wanted to run. He clamped the flight response down hard as he swerved then Normandy around another Reaper capital ship and punched in another set of evasive maneuvers when the fleetwide comm channel cracked to life.</p><p>“All fleets, the Crucible is armed.” even in with his command voice in full use, Admiral 	Stephen Hacket sounded exhaused “Break off and head for the randevouze point. I repeat, break 	off and get the hell out of here.”</p><p>He felt more than saw Garrus and Ashley move up behind him. When the turian gently placed a talon on his shouler he shrugged it off angrily, but then just felt defeated. He could see what was unmistakeably asari blood on the bulky armor. 'I can't do this. Not again...'</p><p>“Joker....” Garrus flanged voice was somber, the subvocals tainted by a deep sadness “We have 	to go.”</p><p>Joker chewed his lip, before a sudden outburst made him hit the haptic interface. “Damnit!” a sob escaped him “...damnit.” He sat still and silently for a moment, trusting EDI to handle the flying for a moment. Wiping at his eyes furiously, he turned to Garrus. “I'm not leaving the system, Garrus. We're not leaving her behind.”</p><p>“Jeff, we-” Garrus paused, eyes falling to the floor “we have to. She'd want us to go.”</p><p>“Of course she'd want us to go!” Joker shouted “That's why we can't, don't you get it. I left her once already.”. He took a deep breath. “We'll shelter behind the star, whatever that thing does, a giant nuclear furnace should be able to shield us from it... some of it, anyway.”	</p><p>Garrus was quiet for a moment as he thought it over. “Ok. Yeah. To hell with it. Do it. Never was much good at following orders anyway”</p><p>The flight to the sun was, even in galactic terms, just a short stroll. And with the enhanced FTL drive at maximum burn, the trip took under a minute. Sam had notified him of the large energy spike the sensors had detected just after they jumped out, and they had less than 7 minutes before whatever it was reached their current location.</p><p>“That's as safe as we're gonna get” he said, turning to Garrus “You better tell the crew to batten 	down the hatches. EDI,” he turned to his girlfriend in the co-pilots seat “power yourself down, and detach from the grid, whatever that thing is it's gonna wreak havoc on our systems if it hits.” </p><p>Uncharacteristically, EDI seemed to hesitate. “Please EDI. I need you to be safe... whatever safe is right now.”</p><p>“Very well, Jeff.” she said “Please take equal measures to preserve cintinued functionality.”</p><p>He smirked despite himself “Always do, when I'm not being used as bait.” EDI, again uncharacteristically, returned the smile, then her body went limp.</p><p>He checked his readouts. 2 minutes to go. He turned towards Garrus and Ashley. “Better strap in guys. Whatever it is, it's gonne get bumpy, we'd better tell the crew the same thing”</p><p>When he saw his comrades strapped in securely, he flicked on the shipwide announcement system. “All hands.” he said stoically “Brace! Brace! Brace!” </p><p><i>'Times like these I kinda wish I was religious, we could sure use some intervention right about now'</i> he thought, as he saw the corona of the star before him expand in a bright red halo.</p><p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p><p>“Liara, lie <i>still</i>!” Dr. Karin Chakwas was at the end of her rope. The comparatively young woman before her was utterly inconsolable. Some of it was obviously shock from her injuries, but mostly Karin thought it was sorrow and despair.</p><p>“I have to go back, please, let me go back.” Liara sobbed as she lay strapped down in the patient crash harness on the medbed “I can't leave her. I can't, Karin, not again.”</p><p>“Liara, listen to me. You're badly wounded, she wanted you safe and away from harm, so Let. Me. Help. You.”  she said, puncuating each syllable.</p><p>“Please...” her sobs ebbed to a whimper “not again.”</p><p>Karins heart ached “Shh, shh,” she said, stroking Liaras crest soothingly “it's going to be alright.”. Though she didn't quite believe that herself. “We need to get your heart rate and blood pressure down, and I'll need to operate once we're out of immediate danger, you've a lot of shrapnel in your body. I'll have to sedate you, alright? I won't go anywhere. You won't be alone. You're safe...” she hesitated “I promise”</p><p>Liara whimpered again, but nodded stiffly. Karin punched the buttons in the IV dispenser, and in seconds, Liara stopped squirming in her harness and went limp. 'You better come back from this, Shepard' she thought somberly. She laid down her instruments and was just about to get to work when the shipwide comm came to life.</p><p>“All hands.” Jeffs voice sounded detached and foreign, so unlike his usual self. “Brace! Brace! Brace!”</p><p><i>'Shit!'</i> she scrambled to secure all the equipment and then threw herself into the medbay crash seat and strapped in. No sooner had she fixed the final buckle before the Normandy shook violently. The warning klaxons blared and the lighting shifted from combat stations yellow to alert red before flickering and going out completely. She felt the pit of her stomach rise as the gravity net under her feet follow suit a moment later, and the medbay was plunged into weightless, dark silence. '<i>Well then... isn't that just peachy.'</i></p><p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p><p>Officer Anna Summers spat a black glob of saliva and ash unto the rubble strewn floor and poked the lifeless husk with the tip of her boot. The feeling of euphoria and elation of only half a day previously had slowly given way to a deep melancholy. There was cause for celebration of course, the Reapers were dead. They'd won. And, perhaps most shocking of all, a fair few of the people on the Citadel itself had held out until the end. She'd been ambilavent about the militia initiative at first, but they'd certainly made all the difference. Even more surprising was that the station had somehow not fallen out of the sky and crashed into the Earth below after it was halfway blown up as, she now knew, the proverbial bullet that ended the war. Every system had been fried though, and it had taken them most of the day just to get local comms back up, a few hours more before they were able to contact what was left of the invasion force down on the surface. The fleet had started to make an appearance, a few ships limping home on reserve power kept coming in every hour, but if their systems had suffered the same burnouts as the station it might be a while yet before they were all back, she reasoned. The devistation was immense, however. And the more ground they covered, the more bodies they located and tagged for pickup, the less jubilant she felt. The presidium was the worst hit by far, even Tayseri ward, blown clean off the station itself and floating dead a few hundred clicks away had been in better condition, albeit without power and gravity. The emerency systems were still functioning for reasons even the engineers couldn't explain, and even up here the gaping holes into space, while irking, were still held shut by emergency force fields. So far though the center of galactic government hadn't turned up a single survivor, and both she and her team were slowly losing hope that they ever would.</p><p>“What's the point of this anyway” her turian collegue asked from just behind her to the right “It's obvious that this place is a ghost town. It was the first place to be evacuated... Spirits, I don't even know where all these bodies came from”.</p><p>“Earth” Anna answered. “The Reapers were bringing bodies up from the ground. No idea why, though...”</p><p>“Nothing good, you can count on that.”</p><p>“Amen.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Nevermind.” she tapped her earpiece “T'Vanna, anything over in grid 10?”</p><p>“Nothing.” the young asari replied a moment later, there was some static on the link <i>'Still a lot of blown out signal repeaters then.'</i> “Lots of bodies though, all human... I don't get it.”</p><p>“Don't worry about it.” Anna sighed. “The Cap is calling it for the day until we can get reinforcements from the ground. Lets check ut the Tower and then call it quits, this place is making me depressed.”</p><p>“A phyrric victory, I think is the term your people uses?” Casia said from her right.</p><p>“Oh yeah, our specialty. Last one alive wins.” she replied, making the turian woman chuckle.</p><p>The Citadel Tower was completely gone, and in its place was just a large pile of rubble. There were no visible bodies here though, which surprised Anna. She climbed up on the small mountain and began poking through the rubble. She was about to call her team and suggest they head back when she saw it. A hand, bloodied and distorted, but unmistakeably a five fingered hand, sticking out of the rubble. A part of her clamped down her enthusiam, they'd seen thousands of bodies up here, and there was no reason to believe that this would be any different, but some intutition told her that this would be different.</p><p>“Found someone up here!” she shouted down to Casia “Would you tell T'Vanna to send the medic up here ASAP?”</p><p>“Affirmative.” the turian replied and tapped her earpiece, speaking into it urgently.</p><p>Joe Alvarez, the team medic, came crawling up the pile a few minutes later. “You know you can tag these poor bastards as well as I can, right?” he grumbled, a bit out of breath.</p><p>Anna rolled her eyes “They're buried, I didn't wanna start poking around without a medic around, in case they're not dead.”</p><p>Joe huffed, but nodded. They started helping to dig out the body slowly, careful to jostle it as little as possible as they did so. It was a human woman, she discovered as more of the body became visible. Then she yelped and scrambled backwards as the woman, impossibly, took a rasping, tortured breath, her chest unmistakably rising and falling. “Jesus Christ! Joe!” she shouted. The man in question just sat there on his knees, gaping for a moment before scrambling forward to take scans.</p><p>Joe scanned the womans body, it was bad, the word 'mince meat' came to mind, and despite all he'd seen he had to fight back a wave of nausea. Anna, able to little else but a visual assesment, looked the woman over, her eyes being drawn to something on the breastplate, her breath caught. An N7 logo, charred and distorted, but unmistakeable.</p><p>“Joe...” her voice wavered.</p><p>“I know” he said, jaw set “I see it.” </p><p>“Do you think it's... <i>her</i>?”</p><p>A huffed “Hard to tell right now, ain't it?” he stared down at his omnitoolm readings “This is... how?” he said, disbelieving. “She shouldn't be alive.. everything's broken, and I mean everything.”</p><p>“Well she is!” Anna snapped. “The fuck do we do?”</p><p>“I...” Joe hesitated “Ok. Lets get the rubble off of her and onto a stretcher, we need evac though, there's no way she can take being carried down to HQ in this condition. She needs a hospital.” he frowned “Do we have shuttles to the surface yet? Huerta's fucked.”</p><p>“I don't know...” Anna said, tapping her earpice “Captain Bailey, do you read?”</p><p>She held her breath as she waited for a reply, it seemed to drag on for an age before the reply broke the static. “Summers? That you?” Armando Baileys gruff voice asked</p><p>“Yeah Cap.” she replied “We, err, have a situation up here.”</p><p>When she didn't continue he snapped in irritation “Well, out with it then!” </p><p>“We have a survivor from the presidium we...” she paused “We think it might be Shepard.”</p><p>The line was silent for a moment. “You're sure?” he finally asked.</p><p>“Well, no. She's bad, Cap. It's hard to make an ID. N7 armor, though. We need an evac shuttle, Alvarez says moving her by foot is gonna kill her.”</p><p>“We've got a few working ones, engineers finally got replacement parts for the electricals from some storage room.” Bailey replied. “Send me the coordinates.”</p><p>Anna tapped her omnitool. </p><p>“Recieved.” Bailey replied. “Do what you can and wait for the ride. ETA 4 minutes.”</p><p>“Roger, Summers out.”</p><p>Anna helped Joe to carefully place the injured woman on the expandable stretcher and securing her. When the shuttle left a few minutes later after a swift handoff, the feeling of joy slowly started to creep back into her heart.</p><p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p><p>“Joker,” Tali called over the comms from the engine room. “we're ready to power up down here.”</p><p>She glanced over to Ken and Gabby, both looking a little green after their injections. The shields going down had caused the inside of the ship to be saturated in radiation from the star outside, and while not life threatening, Dr. Chakwas had insisted that innculations were needed to keep it that way. As for her, this was one of those times when livin your life in a suit had its perks. Built in radiation protection.</p><p>“We are ready, right?” she asked Gabby</p><p>She nodded, swallowing hard. “Yeah, drive core's primed. We got the backup systems running well enough with the same parts, so I don't think it's gonna be a problem. Fingers crossed, though.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>When no answer was forthcoming, she tried Joker again. They hadn't been able to power EDI back up yet, and the pilot had been distacted.</p><p>“Yeah.” he finally replied “Lets get her going.”</p><p>She punched in a few commands, and the blue glow started in the middle of the core and slowly spread as the reaction started back up. The comforting hum reverberating though the deck plates.</p><p>“Core at 75% and holding.” Gabby reported “Dunno if we'll get her over that right now, I don't wanna risk it with a jerry-rigged transfer system.”</p><p>“Agreed” Tali replied, tapping the comms again “Joker, core's stable at 75, we should be able to do half speed.”</p><p>“Got it.” he paused “So, do you think you could-”</p><p>Tali chuckled “Yes, Joker, I'll go fix your girlfriend. Don't worry.”</p><p>“I just don't want her to sit trapped in that damn box longer than she has to.” he huffed and cut the connection.</p><p>Still chuckling, she made her way out of engineering. “Make sure to get some rest, guys” she told her two fellow engineers. “You both look ready to topple over.”</p><p>“Aye.” Ken replied weakly. “Not sure what the doc put in that shot, but I feel like my insides are boiling.”</p><p>When Tali got to the medbay, she found Liara sitting up in her bed looking entirely worse for wear. Alert, but quiet and sullen. She looked up when she heard the door open.</p><p>“Any news?”</p><p>“No, I'm sorry Liara.” Tali replied “No comms traffic yet. We're sitting behind a star and only have short-range working though, so that's to be expected. We've got the drive core up and running, so we should be back at Earth within the hour.” she gently placed a three fingered hand on her friends knee. “We'll know something soon. I promise.”</p><p>Liara nodded. She tried to smile though it didn't reach her eyes, Tali noted. “Fixing EDI?” she asked, nodding at the toolbox in the quarian womans hands.</p><p>“Yeah.” she chuckled. “If I don't Joker might crash the ship.”</p><p>As it turned out, the AI core was near untouched, and all she had to do was switch out the burned power relays. With the drive core back up, powering up the core was a simple matter once everything was hooked up again. She reasoned that the repaers might actually do something similar, but without organics to plug them back in again, they would just sit in their boxes until someone towed their lifeless bodies into the nearest black hole. The mental image gave her a lot of satisfaction as she tapped the final commands to start the boot sequence. The core relays began to hum, and the cooling fans began turning in earnest. After a moment, the familiar blue avatar popped up before her.</p><p>“Morning EDI,” she said with a smile.</p><p>“Hello, Tali.” EDI replied. “Excuse while I let Jeff know of my return.” she winked out.</p><p>Tali thought she could hear the celebratory whoop on the bridge even thorugh the deck plating.</p><p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p><p>The devestation on and around Earth was mind boggling. But even as the dead husks of starships drifting by outside caused pain, the equally dead forms of Reapers gave cause for hope. Garrus and Ashley were currnent speaking with Admiral Hacket, whos ship had returned to Earth orbit around the same time as they themselves had. The man seemed dazed, as if he couldn't quite believe that they'd done it. That it was finally over. That is how Liara found them when she limped unto the bridge.</p><p>Hacket was speaking about damage to the relay network, but she would not be disuaded and promptly jumped in. “Admiral, is there any news of Shepard?”</p><p>Hackets eyes moved to her. “I didn't want to give you false hopes, the reports are still unconfir-”</p><p>“Sir,” she interupted him again, and the fact that he didn't show so much as a frown was a testament to just how dazed the man really was. “Please. Just... if you know anything.”</p><p>Hacket was silent for a moment, then spoke. “Rescue teams did recover a survivor from the base of the Citadel Tower, a woman wearing Alliance N7 armor, but her identity has yet to be confirmed.”</p><p>Despite telling herself not to get her hopes up, a wave of relief and happiness flooded Liaras heart. <i>'Who else could it be?'</i> A sob esaped her and she clapped a hand over her mouth and sagged against the bulkhead.</p><p>“Do you have a location, sir?” Ashley asked, noticing that Liara was in no condition to speak, if the tears now streaming down her cheeks were any indication.</p><p>“St. Dennis Hospital in Kent.” Hacket replied. “It was largely spared destruction, my report is that she's in critical condition, but stable. If it is Shepard she... just pulled off the impossible.”</p><p>Liara, having recovered herself enough to speak called Hackets attention once again. “Admiral, I don't know her personally but I'm sure Sarah will wish to know...”</p><p>“The SSV Orizoba was destroyed in the fighting.” Hacket replied, understanding her meaning. “But Rear Admiral Shepard made it out with most of the crew. I have yet to speak with her however, communications with the surface are spotty.”</p><p>He seemed to straighten himself before continuing. “You've all done one hell of a job. Get down there, if it is her, she's more than deserved an honour guard once she wakes up. Not that it really matters right now, but I'm placing the Normandy on detached duty until further notice. Go see your Commander.” he saluted, then broke the connection, missing Liara breaking out in renewed sobs.</p><p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p><p>'Escaped destruction' was, perhaps, a bit of an overstatement Liara concluded as she looked upon the building in front of the landing pad. It was still standing, certainly, but that was about all that could be said for it. There were lots of people around though, so perhaps the inside was more functional than the exterior would let on. She limped towards the front entrance, the crew who had opted to go down to the surface at her back. Her previous suspicion proved correct, as inside the main lobby the floors were reasinably clean, and working monitors were set up behind a makeshift reception desk She approached it and called the attention of the woman seated behind the terminal.</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>The woman looked up. “Yes? How may I help you, do you require medical attention?” she asked, glancing down at Liaras leg.</p><p>“No, I'm looking for someone. Commander Sarah Shepard, Alliance Navy?”</p><p>The womans eyes widened and she shushed her urgently. “What's the relation.” she asked in just above a whisper.</p><p>“I, well, we're, that is to say-” Liara fumbled, a blue blush creeping unto her cheeks.</p><p>The womans eyes softened. “It's alright. I understand. The commander <i>is</i> here, we were able to confirm her identity through DNA scan once the computer system was back online. She's still being treated however, but-” she held up a hand when Liara moved to interrupt. “she's stable for now. If you wish, you may wait outside her room. You should be able to see her in a few hours.” she called up some information on her terminal, then printed a small plastic card from a little printer on the side. “5th floor, corridor on the right. There is a marine guard detachment who will be able to direct you, this card will grant you access.” she finished, pushing the card over to Liara on the counter.</p><p>“Thank you.” Liara said, taking the card gingerly.</p><p>The wait was long. Some of her crewmates nodded off in their chairs, but as for Liara herself, sleep was the last thing on her mind. Sarah was alive, and she was elated by that fact, but she still didn't know how bad it was. Would she be cripled? Would she be the same once she woke up? Would she wake up at all? This inner turmoil put her on edge, so when the salarian doctor finally came to let them know they could go in to see Shepard, she jumped a foot in the air from her seat.</p><p>“On at a time only” the doctor said in the clipped tones typical of his race. “Patient must not be crowded. Even in comatose state overstimulation hazardous.”</p><p>Liara wrung her hands nervously and looked to the others. </p><p>Garrus scoffed. “Like anyone else is going first.”</p><p>Ashley chuckled. “Yeah go on doc. I was just getting comfy anyway.” she said, sitting back down.</p><p>Liara nodded gratefully and limped over to the door and entered the room. The sight made her utter a small whimper, and freash tears formed in her eyes. <i>'Oh Sarah...'<i> Sarah was hardly recognizeable, and the tubes, lines and machines she was hooked up to made her seem incredibly small. She wasn't a large woman, quite the contrary, she was actually shorter than Liara was by 10 centimeters where humans, even the females, were usually bulkier than the average asari. Her small stature had actually served her well in combat, but now it made her look impossibly tiny and fragile. Her skin was burnt, cut and bruised, and her fiery red hair, normally neatly piled in a regulation bun or pulled back in a tight ponytail when she was feeling lazy, was singed in places and what remained of it looked gray and matted.</i></i></p><p>
  <i>
    <i>Liara moved over to the bed and sat in the chair placed there. She looked at Sarah through her tears for a moment, then very carefully placed her lithe hand in hers. Liara bent forward and placed a soft kiss on the singed palm.  She was broken, but she was warm and alive, and for now that would do.</i>
  </i>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Sleepless Dreams and Restless Nights</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sarah looked out over the clear mountain lake before her. The Scandic mountains were always beautiful in the fall, one of the last untouched wildernesses on the planet. She took a deep breath, the air was crisp and cool, yet she didn't feel cold at all.</p>
<p>“Been too long since we were last out here, huh sweetheart?”</p>
<p>She turned around to face father. Eric Shepard hadn't aged a day since she last saw him. That, of course, made a certain kind of sense. Though she couldn't say she actually knew the rules of this place.</p>
<p>“Mm.” She replied, turning back to the lake. “I used to love it here. Never went back after you left though... Missed it, if I'm honest.”</p>
<p>He scowled as he walked up beside her and sat down on a log. “Do you have to say it like that? Makes me sound like som deadbeat.”</p>
<p>“Fine,” she sighed. “died. Whatever. Same thing.”</p>
<p>“Pretty sure one's voluntary and the other one isn't, sweetie.”</p>
<p>“Pretty sure you didn't have to go on the mission. Pretty sure you could have signed up for shipboard duty like a normal person. Or a desk job.” she grumbled, but immediately felt guilty, and not just a little bit like a massive hypocrite.</p>
<p>Her father chuckled. “Do I even need to say anything?”. His smirk was infuriating, but it melted her anger just as it had when she was was a little girl. </p>
<p>She sighed again. “No. I know.” she sat down next to him, chucking a rock into the lake absentmindedly. “I paid for it too.”</p>
<p>“I know” he replied sombery. “I'm proud of you, you know? Always knew you were going to be a hellreaiser, but even I didn't picture half the stuff you've done.”</p>
<p>“Thanks, Dad.” she said quietly, but didn't say anything more for a long moment.</p>
<p>“Ok, I'll bite. What's the matter?”</p>
<p>She sighed. “I don't know, I just... I shouldn't <i>need</i> this. I'm over 30, I'm a badass marine... I said goodbye to you a long time ago, Dad, and I just...” she shrugged “I love that you're here, I've missed you <i>so</i> much. But after waking up again the last time, I'd just kind of resigned myself to never seeing you again. It was sad, but I dealt with it, this just... makes it hard again, I guess. In some ways.”</p>
<p>“You'll never really be alone... you know that, right?”</p>
<p>“I felt alone a lot, for a long time.” She said “And I used to believe that... I <i>want</i> to believe that. Maybe I will again...” </p>
<p>They fell into a companiable silence for a long time, watching the sun start to set beyond the ridge, her head on his shoulder. It was blissful, but she knew it wouldn't last. That it wasn't real. She finally voiced her thoughts.</p>
<p>“It's also how I know none of this is real.”</p>
<p>He turned to her with a slight frown. “What to do you mean?”</p>
<p>“It's how I know I'm not dead. I already did that bit once. No trips down memory lane with dear old dad that time, just darkness and then I woke up on a medbed and it was 2 years later.”</p>
<p>He seemed to consider the point. “I mean I agree, you're definitely not dead. As for wether I showed up that time you did die, I don't know sweetie... might be you just don't remember?”</p>
<p>“Feels like something you'd remember though, doesn't it? No, I'm probably dying right now, tripping balls under a few metric tonnes of debris on what's left of the Citadel. It's all happening inside my head, which means I still have a head for it to happen in...”</p>
<p>“Well, of course it's happening inside your head Sarah, but why sh-”</p>
<p>She leveled him with a deadpan expression “We're <i>not</i> doing the Dumbledore speech, Dad.” </p>
<p>He chuckled. “You asked me to read you those damn books at least 20 times, seems to me you actually love them.”</p>
<p>“Still do.” she admitted. “I even went to London eventually, like we talked about. Though it was kinda blowing up at the time”. He chuckled again at that.</p>
<p>“It was one of the things I was looking forward to the most actually, all the books we sued to read. I Was planning to read them to-” she stopped, a deep sadness settling at in the pit of her stomach.</p>
<p>Eric placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “You will.” he sook his head “Blue granddaughters, didn't see that one coming.” smiling, he went on. “She's quite something, isn't she; your girl?”</p>
<p>Sarahs face split into a dreamy grin. “The best.” she turned to face him “Do you think Gramma Nina would have keeled over over the whole gallavanting with an alien thing?”</p>
<p>He snorted. “No way. I happen to know she was quite the fan of the asari. You know... aesthetically speaking.” he rubbed the back of his neck, much like she herself was prone to do. “Ma Rosalie was lucky there weren't any around for competition back in the day, if anything.”</p>
<p>She laughed loudly. “Ok, maybe I am dead. There's no way I could have known that... or maybe I'm just projecting. I do have a type, apparenlty.”</p>
<p>He hugged her against his side, and she sank into him “You're not dead, sweetheart. We will see eachother again though, but hopefully not for a really long time. Now stop worrying about it, and just enjoy the vacation until it's time to wake up.”</p>
<p>She decided to do just that, and closed her eyes.</p>
<p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p>
<p>The veritable brigade of doctors assigned to Shepards care had declared her mostly out of harms way a few days ago,, and she'd started to be allowed more than one visitor at a time shortly after that, albeit with strict instructions to remain calm and quiet while in the room. The entire crew, plus friends both old and new had stopped by since then. Perhaps most surprinsg of these visits had been councilor Tevos. The asari matriarch was, as far as anyone knew, the only surviving member of the Council, having ridden out the Reaper onslaught in on of the militia strongholds. She seemed to feel, and rightly so if you were to ask Liara, that she owed Shepard her life for this alone, let alone the final defeat of the enemy. Stoic as the matriarchs tended to be, she wouldn't say the woman quite threw herself at Sarahs feet, but it was as good as, and she assured Liara that whatever assistance she could provide going forward, be it professional or personal, she would gladly offer.</p>
<p>The krogan contingent, consisting of Wrex and Grunt, had been unusually somber. Liara guessed that a great warrior who was gravely injured and helpless was far more disturbing for their kind than a heroic death in battle. To see Wrex being so gentle as he was when speaking to Sarahs unmoving form was quite heartbreaking. <i>'Goddess, I'm so tired of crying.'</i> she thought as she wiped at her eyes again at the memory. Grunt had wanted to stay and stand guard, but had been promptly shooed off by Dr. Chawkas under threat of a full physical. The chair next to the bed, however, had been near consistently occupied by the same asari maiden continously for over a week. Liara T'Soni was exhausted, if she were to be honest with herself, but there was no way she was leaving Sarahs side for even a second.</p>
<p>She'd had a lot of time to think over the past week. Too much time, really, but once it was clear that Sarah was not in immediate danger of dying, and as her prognosis continued to improve, her anxiety lessened and the worst catastrophy scenarios started to ebb from her mind. The fear that she would never wake up remained, however, and was currently the most persistent worry Liara had. So enraptured was she by pondering the future that she almost missed the slight stirring on the bed in front of her. Not until she felt a faint squeeze from the hand she was holding did her focus shift and she gasped. A pair of deep emerald eyes, bloodshot and unfocused, but open and looking at her, met her gaze.</p>
<p>“Hi.” Sarah rasped, voice barely above a coarse whisper.</p>
<p>The mundane greeting felt so out of place that Liara felt a surprised laugh escape her, before tears, this time of joy, spilled down her cheeks.</p>
<p>“Hello, love.” she whispered, leaning over and kissing Sarahs forehead.</p>
<p>“M'srry.” she mumbled.</p>
<p>Liara squeezed her hand gently. “Shh, don't try to speak. Apparently you inhaled fire, your throat is still healing.”</p>
<p>“Blew up t' C'del.”</p>
<p>Liara chuckled wetly. “Yes, you did.”</p>
<p>“C'ncil'll be mad...”</p>
<p>“Don't worry about that now.” she said, kissing the hand she was holding gently “Just rest now.”</p>
<p>“M'kay... love...”</p>
<p>“I love you too. I'll be right here.”</p>
<p>With that, Sarah Shepard drifted off to sleep again, and Liara followed her a moment later, her head on the side of Sarahs bed, her mind finally able to rest.”</p>
<p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p>
<p>Sarah woke up only sporadically over the next few days, speaking only a few mumbled words each time, but Karin assured her it was normal with extensive trauma. That she apparently seemed to recognize Liara, and likewise appeared to be able to remember events up to and including the trauma was also a very good sign, she was told. As for the injuries themselves, the Cerberus cybernetics in Sarahs body had recovered somewhat, and she was expected to make a full recovery save from some mild dermal scarring. The human skin, Karin explained, was a complex organ and hard to repair seamlessly, and at any rate, the genemods were apparently doing a better job than anything the Allience medical corp could muster. The genemods were a marvel, apparently, not only were they able to regenerate cells to a degree not otherwise seen in medical science, human or otherwise, but they enabled the cells to regenerate near perfectly each time. Karin said it would certainly have an impact on shepards longevity. How much of an impact she couldn't really say, since there was no presedence, but she assured Liara that Sarah would likely outlive any human currently alive, if that meant a few decades or a few centuries more than the average human lifespan of 150, however, she couldn't say. </p>
<p>This bit of news had Liara quite giddy, though she was careful not to show it. As an asari and... bonded <i>'Is that what we are... I know we both agree that there is no one else, but we never talked about it... the war always came in the way, one crisis after another...'</i>, to a shorter lived species, she was supposed to have a long-term philosophical outlook on the whole thing. Sarah would eventually die of old age, Liara would still be young, and she would move on, carrying a part of her with her always but taking new lovers, maybe even new bondmates. But privately Liara was forced to admit that she was quite bad at being asari. The idea of outliving the woman who she was very certain was the love of her life, her 'one true love', as the humans would say, scared her immensely. She'd have to go through it once, and at that point their relationship had still been new. Even then it had been utterly devestating, it had completely changed her, made her cold. With Sarahs help she eventually found herself again, but it took time. So to be given some reprieve from this eventuality was most welcome. 5 or 600 years without Sarah, if they were lucky, would be hard, but more tolerable than 8 or 900 to be sure. At any rate, she couldn't imagine there ever being anyone else, no matter how many years she would be left alone in this universe. Perhaps it was childish, perhaps the matriarchs and matrons had been right and she was still little more than a child. But it was how she felt, and narcisstistic as it may be she felt she'd alredy done more in her just over 100 years than most of her kind accomplished in a lifetime.</p>
<p>She turned her attention back to the datapad she had been reading. It was a collection of human poetry that Ashley had given her on her last visit, someone named Tenyson, who was apparently the other womans favorite. It was... interesting, she thought. Not quite as flowing and asari poetry, kind of austere and to the point. Much like humans in general, in fact. Even after several years of being around many of their kind, and even after falling deeply in love with a human woman, she still found them perplexing at times. They were just so contradictory and multifaceted, intelligent and thoughtful yet blunt and, if she was being honest, oddly fond of abject stupidity, often for no other reason than thinking the outcome might be entertaining. Caring and compassionate yet prone to ruthless violence if and when the situation called for it. It was odd to know a person who could fluctuate so wildly depending on the situation. Sarah was a prime example, really, she mused. She was lithe and ethereal, the most beautiful person, of any species, that Liara had ever seen. She was also the kindest and most compassionate person she'd ever met. And yet she'd personally witnessed the woman rip the antennae of a salarian with her bare hands and dispatch too many of her enemies to count with ruthless efficiency. At times it felt almost like being with a tiny, very compassionate krogan who was also easy on the eyes. She chuckled softly at the mental image. She'd brought these thoughts up to Sarah on a few occassions, but her lover would just laugh and sum the whole thing up with a shrug and a 'What can I say, we're weird?'. And she was at that, Liara thought. And she loved it, all of it that made the woman she loved who she was, she loved, even the quirky and sometimes scary parts.</p>
<p>She was so deep in her thoughts that she hadn't heard the door open behind her, and jumped a bit when the visitor spoke.</p>
<p>“Doctor T'Soni?”</p>
<p>Liara whipped around and stood up. Her first instict was to fight, but the managed to remind herself that the war was over, and the location was, as far as she knew, secure. She looked the newcomer over. She was a human woman, middle aged if she had to guess, and wore Alliance Navy bridge blues that needed a good wash and a press, the bars indicating a higher rank though not one she'd remembered seeing before. The green eyes and red hair, even though streaked with gray, made her quite certain who this person must be.</p>
<p>“Yes?” she replied, warily. She was quite certain Sarahs mother wasn't about to attack her or anything of the sort, but she was decidedly <i>not</i> in the headspace for, as Sarah would say, 'meet the parents' just then. From her research it seemed to be a very complicated and daunting ritual.</p>
<p>She was worries increased when the woman strode forward quickly. She needn't have worried however, and was startled when instead of a blow, or angry words, she found herself enveloped in a firm hug.</p>
<p>The woman seemed to catch herself and let go, taking a quick step backwards. “Oh, I'm so sorry!” she said, sounding flustered. “I'm not quite myself these past few days. Hannah Shepard.” she extended her hand to Liara.</p>
<p>Liara herself was still reeling from the unexpected greeting, and just blinked at the elder Shepard for a moment.</p>
<p>“Oh no, you don't shake hands do you? Do you bow? I took the interspecies relations course once I swear but-”</p>
<p>The mannerisms were so like Sarahs that it flipped Liara even more off kilter. The older version had a slight accent that was different from Sarahs, Liara would call it almost musical, but otherwise the mannerisms and speech patters were remarkably similar. <i>'It really is like talking to an older clone, this is surreal'</i> she managed to think before composing herself. “Oh no, that's quite alright, I was just surprised is all.” she finally replied, taking Hannahs hand and shaking it in the humans fashion. “Liara T'Soni, just Liara though, please. It's nice to meet you, Admiral Shepard.”</p>
<p>Hannahs face lit up with relief “Just Hannah, please. Sarah's told me <i>so much</i> about you.” she sombered then, glancing towards the hospital bed where her daughter lay sleeping “I just wish we could have done this sooner, and under better circumstances.”</p>
<p>She moved to the bed and sat down on the side of the bed, careful not the rustle her daughter. She tucked a stran of the shirt har that had started to grow back away from her forhead. “My poor baby...”</p>
<p>She turned to Liara. “They said she's stable, but how is she really?”</p>
<p>“Improving.” Liara said, taking her seat in the chair on the other side of the bed. “She's woken up a few times, but only for a few minutes at a time. It's still hard for her to speak.”</p>
<p>Hannah nodded. “Does she know where she is, that we won?”</p>
<p>“I think so... she remembered that she, and I quote, 'blew up the Citadel'”</p>
<p>Hannah snorted at that “That's my girl.” she smirked “I'll have to tease her about doing it half-assed though, it's still there after all. All those jibes about being a bad-ass marine...”</p>
<p>“You never served in the ground forces then?” Liara asked, she'd been told that it was always important to 'make conversation', no matter how flustered one was.</p>
<p>“No, ship rat trough and through.” Hannah relplied. “Ground combat is too dirty and gritty for me. Should have known this one would become a ground pounder though.” she said, nodding her head at Sarah. “Grew up on ships, but still managed to find the one planter on within walking distance to muck around in the dirt.”</p>
<p>Liara laughed then and had to clamp a hand over her mouth so not to disturb Sarah too much. “Really?”  her eyes shone with mirth. “No.”</p>
<p>“Honest to God” Hannah said, laughing softly as well. “I have the pictures to prove it. I'll show you sometime. But I think it's only fair if the victim of the baby-pictures rirual is actually awake for it, not much fun without the embarassment, really.”</p>
<p>Liara found herself feeling oddly disappointed, seeing images of Sarah as a small child held an odd sort of appeal.</p>
<p>“Which,” Hannah went on “also goes for having the what-are-your-intentions-towards-my-daughter talk with you, equally lackluster without her awake to glare at me while I do it.” she finished with a wink.</p>
<p>“My intentions are to spend my life with her.” Liara said, then her eyes widened as she realized she'd spoken her thoughts out loud.</p>
<p>Hannah raised an eyebrow, but smiled kindly. “Pretty blunt, aren't you?”</p>
<p>“Well, I- that is to say I don't intend- not that I don't-”</p>
<p>Hannah laughed softly again. “Wow, ok.” there was no mocking in her tone, however. “Yeah I can see why she fell for you. Cute when you get flustered, that's for sure.”</p>
<p>She composed herself and grew more serious. “Look, Liara. My daughter has told me enough through correspondence to know that she would do anything for you... and I assume you feel the same way. The fact that you, if the doctors are to be believed, have lived in that chair for over a week makes me believe that my assumption is entirely warranted.”</p>
<p>Her face softened then. “I'm happy she found you, because <i>she's</i> happy she found you. That's all I care about. As for threatening you with bodily harm should you hurt her, I guess I could, for traditions sake, but based on what she's told me I'm pretty sure it's a fight you'd win.”</p>
<p>“Besides,” she grinned “Sarah's at least twice the fighter I am, so I doubt I'd have to do it myself.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “You know, Eric- that's Sarahs father- always used to joke about it, scaring off boys. I always thought it was stupid and antiquated, but when we figured out that these hypothetical troublemakers would be girls rather than boys then suddenly it was supposedly <i>my</i> job. Honestly! For a man with two mothers he could be surprisingly old-fashioned in his ideas about gender roles.”</p>
<p>They spoke some more about Sarahs childhood, Hannahs life in the Allience Navy and all the ships and stations they'd lived on during Sarahs childhood, before Hannah decided to change the subject.</p>
<p>“Enough about me, though, I want to learn about this woman who's swept my Sarah off her feet.”</p>
<p>Liara got flustered again. “Oh! Well, there's not much to tell, really. I'm an academc, really, with a speciality in exoarcheology.”</p>
<p>Hannah leaned forward, looking genuinely interested. “That sounds fascinating. You must have visited a lot of worlds?”</p>
<p>Liara smiled, the reaction reminded her a lot of Sarah when they had first met. Someone actually listenting to her and, above all, taking what she said seriously had been a novelty then. “A fair few, yes. My research was almost exclusively on the protheans. It's how me and Sarah met, actually, she needed the expertise and found me being attacked by another... faction, who wanted the same thing.”</p>
<p>Hannah hummed. “Mm, she told me a bit about it in her letters.” her eyes darkened slightly “I'm sorry about your mother.”</p>
<p>“T-thank you.” Liara replied, stuttering slightly. “She came back to me, before... before the end. We got to say goodbye.”.</p>
<p>Hannah nodded sympathetically. “It's important. Saying goodbye, I mean.” She got a faraway look on her face. “We never got that, with Eric. Life went from routine to utterly broken in a single day.”</p>
<p>“I'm sorry, Hannah.”</p>
<p>“Thank you. It's alright though.” she replied. “It was a long time ago.”</p>
<p>“Sarah rarely speaks of him. Her father, I mean.” Liara commented.</p>
<p>“No, I know.” Hannah said with a sigh. “It's still raw for her. She was angry for a long time. Still is, I think. She was only 14 at the time, and that's a rough age for anyone -for humans, anyway-, and having something like that happen is just... unfair.”</p>
<p>“I understand.” Liara said softly. “I didn't have the best relationship with my mother, she didn't approve of the path I wanted to walk, and I resented her for it. When she died we'd been estranged for several years. I regret that now, I'm not sure I was wrong, exactly, but in the end our disagreements seemed... petty, and unimportant.” Liara was shocked at how frank and open she was being. She'd just met this woman today, and yet it felt like speaking with an old friend, someone she'd known for years, someone she trusted. It was another similarity between mother and daughter, Sarah had had much the same effect on her all those years ago, even when they'd first met on Therum.</p>
<p>“We can't control the tides of fate.” Hannah mused. “Everyone makes mistakes, especially when we're young, but parents do too. I'm sure your mother was proud of you, even if she didn't know how to tell you as much.”</p>
<p>“I'd like to think so.” Liare replied softly.</p>
<p>“What about your father?” Hannah asked gently, not wanting to stir any more painful memories.</p>
<p>“She left when I was very young and my parents separated... it was complicated. She's also asari, and there's a certain... stigma, in asari society, when it comes to procreating within our own species. Alien partners are preffered.”</p>
<p>“Seems like a very odd stigma?” Hannah asked, one of her eyebrows arching.</p>
<p>“I agree. We're supposed to learn from our bondmates -err, spouses?” Hannah nodded in confirmation “Spouses. And there's a feeling that if both are asari then nothing new is learned. But I've come to realize, especially since meeting Sarah, and spending a lot of time around humans and other species, that we're all just individuals. Race doesn't matter for much, in the end.”</p>
<p>“Very wise.” Hannah replied, nodding. “Did you ever reconnect, you and your father?”</p>
<p>Liara smiled sadly. “Yes. I found out who she was not so long ago, we were making some strides just before the final battle. “</p>
<p>She sighed. “She was on the Citadel. I haven't heard from here, nor do I know if she's even alive... I feel like I should be more worried about that than I am. I am worried, don't misunderstand... but I hardly know her. I suppose the worry I feel is more like that for an aquaintence than a parent, but-”</p>
<p>“I think that's understandable.” Hannah reassured her. “Things like that takes time. I'm sure you'll be able to locate her once things stabilize.” she smirked “Might be nice to have another grandparent around so I don't have to spoil the grandkids all on my lonesome.”</p>
<p>Liara flushed blue “I- we have talked about it but-”</p>
<p>Hannah laughed heartily “Don't worry, love, I'm only teasing. Not that I'd be opposed being made a grandmother, mind you, but I'm pretty sure there are both written and unwritten rules saying it's none of my business.”</p>
<p>Both womens attention were suddenly drawn to the bed, where Sarah Shepard, perhaps awoken by her mothers somehwhat loud laughter, began to stir. Liara leaned forward.</p>
<p>“Sarah?”</p>
<p>“Mmm...”</p>
<p>“How are you feeling?”</p>
<p>“Like I blew up the Citadel...”</p>
<p>Liara chuckled warmly “Yes, so you keep reminding me. Yes, love, you are a very mighty warrior.”</p>
<p>“The mightiest.”</p>
<p>“Your speech is getting better. Are you in pain?” Sarah shook her head slighty.</p>
<p>“Good.” Liara said with a smile “Because you have a visitor.”</p>
<p>Sarahs singed eyebrow rose slightly and repositioned her head to look on the other side of the bed, her chapped lips broke into a tired smile. “Mom.”</p>
<p>Hannah smiled at her daughter, a single tear rolling down her cheek. “Hi sweetheart.”</p>
<p>“Hi mummy...” Sarah mumbled sleepily.</p>
<p>Hannah chuckled. “You really must be out of it, honey, you haven't called me that since you were 9.”</p>
<p>“S' your name...”</p>
<p>“That it is. So, I showed your girlfriend your baby pictures.”</p>
<p>Sarahs eyes shot open in an instant. “You did <i>not</i>!”</p>
<p>Hannah laughed, turning to Liara with a broad smile “Oh look, she's up!”</p>
<p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p>
<p>Sarahs wakefullness had been short lived, however, and she soon fell alseep again. Dr. Chakwas had stoped by and when both Liara and Hannah asked they were assured that it was normal for a body healing from massive trauma. Hannah, sadly, couldn't stay much longer. As she was uninjured save for a few scrapes and bruises she remained on active duty, and as such had, as she put it, 'places to be and people to see'. Liara leaned into the hug this time, and promised that she would keep her updated on Sarahs progress and well-being until Hannah could get away from work long enough to come see them again. </p>
<p>Once it was all over and done with, Liara looked back on the events of the day with fascination. She liked Hannah, she really liked her. She made her comfortable, if a bit flustered, but above all she felt accepted, seen and welcomed. Hannah Shepard appeared to be so many things that her own mother hadn't been, and now that she had met the woman, she wondered how she had ever been able to imagine the person who raised her Sarah to be anything different than who she'd just met. Their talk had made her think about her Aethyta, however. Her relationship with her father was brand new, and fragile. But she felt increasingly guilty about her lack of care in finding out if the older woman was even alive. She had family, so many people did not. And if she still had family of her own left in the universe, surely that was a gift worth pursuing. A part of her also relished the idea of introducing Hannah and her father and watch events unfold. 'Poke it with a stick to see what happens', like Sarah usually said. With that in mind, she stood up and kissed Sarah on the forehead.</p>
<p>“I'll be right back, love.”</p>
<p>She left the room and made her way to the front desk, the same woman that had been on duty when she first arrived at the hospital was again seated behind the terminal.</p>
<p>“Ah, Doctor T'Soni. Good evening, I hope everything's alright?”</p>
<p>Liara smiled. “Yes, thank you Natalie. And you?”</p>
<p>“These 15 hour shifts are brutal, ma'am.” she replied, rolling her shoulders for emphasis “And I'm not entirely sure if we're actually being paid still. But hey, I'm alive and employed in the middle of an apocalypse, so that's something.” she smiled at her own joke. “What can I do for you.”</p>
<p>“I need help locating someone who was hopefully evacuated from the Citadel. Do you have a databese of evacuees?”</p>
<p>Natalie nodded. “We do, it's being updated all the time still, though, the evacuation wasn't exactly organized. More of a using whatever spaceworthy craft could still fly and then landing them wherever there was access to food and water kind of thing, yaknow?”</p>
<p>“I understand, could you run a search for me?”</p>
<p>“Certainly, ma'am.”</p>
<p>“Excellent, an asari matriarch, Aethyta.”</p>
<p>“And last name?”</p>
<p>Liara blinked, feeling embarassed. “You know, I'm not actually sure...”</p>
<p>“That's alright.” Natalie reassured her. “Maybe it's not a common name?”</p>
<p>“Never met another one, so I don't think so no.”</p>
<p>“Alright, we'll see what we can do. It might take a little while, a lot of the databases are still independnet, not much of a centralized system in place right now.”</p>
<p>Liara nodded, thanked the woman and asked her to contact her in Sarahs room if anything turned up.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in a makeshift camp on the North American pacific coast, a very frustrated elderly asari was having a heated discussion with an equally frustrated Alliance clerk. </p>
<p>“As I told you already, ma'am, my system can only track Allience military personell, as you're daughter is asari, civilian or otherwise you'll need to contact asari authorities.”</p>
<p>Aethyta growled at the man “Listen here dipshit, like I've told you a million times, she served on an Alliance warship. And where the fuck would I find 'asari authorities' on this shitheap of a rock anyway?”</p>
<p>The clerk frowned at her. “And was she actually on the crew roster of that ship? Because if not there's really nothing I can do for you.”</p>
<p>The asari fumed “All I'm asking you to do is <i>look</i>, asshole!”</p>
<p>A tall woman wearing officers bars approached the quarreling pair. “Is there a problem here, Corporal?”</p>
<p>Before the man in question could respond,  Aethyta turned to the newcomer and answered for him “You're damn right there's a problem. I'm trying to locate my daughter, and this piece of pyjak shit won't run a simple search!”</p>
<p>The woman frowned, but turned to the corporal. “You're relieved, go get some chow and some rack time, I'll take over..”</p>
<p>He nodded and stalked off in a huff. She turned back to  Aethyta. “Apologies ma'am, we're all overworked. Now, how can I help you?”</p>
<p> Aethyta took a deep breath,. “I'm sorry for my outburst... I just want answers.”</p>
<p>“I understand. I'll be happy to do what I can for you.”</p>
<p>“Ok. Thank you. My daughter, she served on the Normandy. In what capacity I have no fucking clue. I heard the ship made it back, but I have no idea if she was still on board or if she's alive or dead.”</p>
<p>The officer hummed, but nodded. “If she was on the roster, we should be able to locate her, or last known whereabouts anyway. What's her name, ma'am.”</p>
<p> Aethyta perked up a litte. “ Liara. Liara T'Soni.”</p>
<p>The officer nodded and began tapping on her haptic interface.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Afterglow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The search for her father hadn't yielded any results. Natalie assured her that this didn't in fact meant anything, they'd still to restore basic services over most of the planet and things were still chaotic. There were refugee camps all over Earth, as well as refugees quartered on larger starships, and far from all of them were linked up to the provisinary central database the Allience had set up to track both survivors, missing persons and the excruciatingly long list of confirmed casualities. As time went on, however, the idea of never patching up their relationship started to weigh on her more and more. If this war had taught her anything, it was that family, blood or otherwise, was important.</p>
<p>“I just don't get it.” Tali nearly whined across the table from Liara, who was absentmindedly pushing some dreary human MRE creation around her plate as she pondered this. “EDI booted up just fine, right? So why are the geth different? It's not like they're stupid, especially after the Reaper upgrade, but ancestors it's like every platform has been purged.”</p>
<p>“Maybe they are?” Ashley commented to her right. “Wiped, I mean? They can do that, right, just evacuate their platforms to a server somehwere?”</p>
<p>They were sitting in the hospital cafeteria, which had sicne been turned into a sort of combination miliary mess hall and soup kitchen. After Sarahs condition had steadily improved for a few weeks straight, Liara had started to venture out from the room for short periods of time when she could be reasonably certain that she wouldn't be missed.</p>
<p>“I mean they <i>can</i>.” Tali confirmed “But it's not like they had any of their comm relays near by.” she took a -Liara gussed 'sip' would be the most apt term- from her nutrient paste tube and continued. “I will admit, it's not an <i>entirely</i> selfless concern. The last reports from Rannoch said that the quarians who's had geth runtimes uploaded to their suits imrpoved their immune responses extremely rapidly, some of them can already go without suits! In just a few <i>weeks</i>!” she groaned “And of course I didn't want to take the risk while still on active dity, I'll be stuck in this thing for another 10 years once I get back.”</p>
<p>“Oh I don't know,” Samantha said with a smirk “I kinda like the suit. Has a very nice... fit, doesn't it?” she winked at Tali. </p>
<p>Liara, having known the quarian woman for many years, was good enough to at reading her body language that she could spot the blush even through the opaque face place. Tali and Samanthas relationship had been unexpected, though not unwelcome. The comms specialist had grown a lot in a very short amount of time, and Tali herself was of course entirely unrecognizeable from the timid girl Liara had first met. Though, of course, much of that was lessens learned and no small amount of Sarahs influence. Yet, she couldn't quite remember ever seeing the quarian women so... alive. And care free. The same could be said for all of them, she mused as she ate. They had never been able to just <i>be</i>, to just exist without the weight of the whole galaxy on their shoulders. Even that last night on the Citadel, when they'd all allowed themselves to let loose for a little while, had the ominous cloud of the Repaers and the immense weight of what they still had left to do looming in the background. This was different somehow, and she found that she liked it. A lot. These were her family, her closest friends, and she felt like she finally, at long last, had gotten to meet them all as they truly were. Even Sarah, broken as she currently was physically, seemed happier and... lighter, she guessed, in her waking moments than Liara had ever seen her, and it warmed her immensely. She almost felt like she was falling in love all over again. </p>
<p>Though to be fair, she thought, the number of relationships that came out of the Normandy had given the ship a bit of a reputation within the rank and file, though she supposed that compared to what they'd all just been through earning the nickname 'the <i>SSV Shag</i>' was a small concern... besides, they weren't exactly wrong either. She must have walked in on at least 5 spearate intimate moments between crew members in the hours leading up the final offensive.</p>
<p>Tali quickly recovered herself, the sultry smirk being heard if not seen through her voice modulator. “Oh, I thought you'd have a vested interest in it being made redundant?”</p>
<p>“<i>Dios</i>, could you thirsty nerds just <i>not</i> for five minutes? Also why is it that no one on that damn ship is straight except me?” James complained from Talis left, causing Ashley to cough pointedly. “It's bad enough I had to listen to the Doc here and Lola go at it during Every. Single. Mission. I'ts been all goo-goo eyes since Mars, I swear to God.” he finnished, indicating Liara with his spork.</p>
<p>Samantha smirked at him, leaning over to pinch his cheek. “Aww, does someone have a case of the twin blues?”. He swatted her hand away, looking sulky.</p>
<p>Liara smiled mischevously. “I'm not sure if human sexual orientation labels apply to asari, James. It just so happened that the 'cream of the crop', as you say, was female.”</p>
<p>Samantha laughed “See Jimmie, you just have bad game.”</p>
<p>“Geek's got a point, Vega.” Ashley interjected nonchalantly, taking a dainty sip from her all-purpose metal mug as if it were a fine wine.</p>
<p> James ignored her. “What's that, Sam?” he asked in mock confusion, cupping his ear for emphasis “All I heard was 'Tip tip, cheerio, wot wot!'”. Ashley promptly shot the water she was drinking out of her nose, wheezing as Garrus patted her on the back.</p>
<p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p>
<p>
  <i>”Shepard-Commander... do we deserve death?”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>The voices echoed all round her, shapes in the mist, though she couldn't make them out.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“... only now do I truly feel alive.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>The air was acrid and thick, the ash and soot stuck to her teeth like glue and she could almost taste the burning flesh and ozone. The screams echoed from the chasm below, though she could'nt see them. Countless people calling out for rescue, for a miracle that would never come. The ground shook, and she saw the pulsating red lights through the thick battle mist, the Reaper klaxons screamed though the night and, though she didn't wish to show it, it filled her with dread. She heard a sob behind her. Turning around, she saw a woman she knew standing in the corner, hunched over and shaking.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Liara?” she said tentatively. The asari turned around to face her, her expression one of deep and profound terror.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“C'mon,” she said gently, holding out her hand “I need to get you someplace safe.” </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Liara shook her head. “You can't help me...”. The flames engulfed her lithe form as the klaxons grew louder-</i>
</p>
<p>Liara woke to a soft whimpering from the bed. She craned her neck and ignored the stiffness there as she sat up straight in her chair. Sarah was restless, moaning in her sleep. Her brow furrowed in concern. She'd expected this, of course, but had somehow hoped it wouldn't manifest. Asari weren't immune to what the humans called post-traumatic stress, but their mental abilities usually meant that they could handle a great deal more emotional stress that others species. Once an asari was broken, however, it was likewise often that much harder to piece her back together, but up to that point it did offer a great deal of resiliance. It was the cause of another of the myriad of stereotypes regarding her race, and while the accusations of promiscuity was something that she herself, as an unusually introverted example of hr people, found especially insulting, it was far less sinister than the idea that asari had an unprecedented ability to 'move on' and endure also meant that they didn't <i>feel</i> things as deeply as others did.</p>
<p>“No...” Sarah whimpered.</p>
<p>Liara took her hand in hers. “Sarah.” she spoke softly. “Sarah, it's alright.”</p>
<p>“Liara, no, please...”</p>
<p>“It's alright, my love. I'm here, you're safe.” she squeezed the hand reassuringly. “We're safe, together. Wake up, love. It's only a dream.”</p>
<p>She'd been reluctant to wake Sarah even when it appeared she were having these dreams, but tonight seemed more intense than previous nights. The idea that her mind seemed to be getting worse all the while her body improved scared her, and she was at a loss as to what to do. She could meld with her, of course, and she knew this had helped Sarah a lot in the past. But consent was a sacred thing to the asari, and entering anothers mind without permission was the gravest of offenses, tantamount to rape, and indeed for the mentally focused asari that was included in the definition of that crime on Thessia and other asari worlds. So as much as it might help, without feeling sure that Sarah was present enough in the moment to request or agree to it, there was little she could do but... simply being there. Sarah had told her once that this was precisely what she needed most of the time. A sign of true love, she'd said, was the ability to be utterly and completely bored together and still cherish that moment.</p>
<p>“Sarah, c'mon now.” she tried again. “Open your eyes for me.”</p>
<p>The emerald orbs fluttered open, they were glazed over and unfocused, but they found hers.</p>
<p>“That's it.” Liara said encouragingly. “I'm right here. You're safe, <i>we're safe</i>. It's only a dream.”</p>
<p>Tears pooled in the corners of Sarahs eyes, she looked broken and scared, it was such a foreign sight in the woman that she loved, and Liara ached from the sight. “I couldn't save you.” she whimpered, still dilerious. “I'm sorry, Liara, I'm so sorry...”</p>
<p>“Shh, shh.” Liara soothed. “You did save me, love. So many times.”</p>
<p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p>
<p>“You know,” Hannah Shepard said through a mouthful of ration bar from her position on the floor, leaning back against the wall opposite the hospital bed. “I think I'm going to retire after this.” She crincled the wrapper and unceremoniously tucked it into the breast pocket of her dirty uniform. “Feels like I've done enough. Besides, I'm a skipper without a ship, I don't really have the skills for... whatever we're doing now. No wonder Stephen offered me leave.”</p>
<p>Liara, seated in her customary chair by the bedside, nodded thoughtfully. “I think everyone's earned unlimited shoreleave from this.” her brow furrowed. “It feels fragile, though.”</p>
<p>Hannah hummed. “Mm, peace always is I think.”</p>
<p>Liara chuckled with a fond smile.</p>
<p>“What?” Hannah asked, bemused.</p>
<p>“You sound like her, you know?” she replied, looking back at Sarahs sleeping form. “It's the 'mm's I think.”</p>
<p>“Well, she does have her own little quirks... does she still end every conversation with 'I should go'?”. Liaras snort of answer enough, and she continued “Besides, I think it's more that she sounds like me” Hannah said, smirking. “I'm the original, you know?” she scratched her chin in thought. “Though I suppose I'm not an original Shepard, so she wins the Shepard clan competition for most badass member I guess.”</p>
<p>“Humans have clans?”</p>
<p>“Figure of speech.” Hannah chuckled. “Well, there's no such thing as a unified human culture... some human cultures do, yes. The one I come from did, a long time ago, but not anymore.”</p>
<p>“And where is that?” Liara asked. Her years of being somewhat of a soldier having never really taken the edge of her natural curiosity. “I don't think I ever asked...”</p>
<p>Hannah shook her head, smiling. “You've had more important things on your mind.” She pondered her response for the amount of detail she'd need to go into for someone not so familiar with Earth. “Human  society is still very mich divided. The Alliance gives an overreaching framework for our dealings out in the galaxy but... I believe it's similar to how you asari still have city states and republics, only less unified.”</p>
<p>“I did know that Earth still had nation states.” Liara confirmed.</p>
<p>“Yes.” Hannah nodded. “I'm from a place called the Nordic Federation, which is also part of a larger block called the European Union... as the name suggests, it's far up on the nothern hemisphere, on the European continent. Cold, lots of forests, not many people.”</p>
<p>“Is that why Sarah isn't bothered by the cold?” Liara asked, remembering her lovers carefree attitude on Noveria many years ago.</p>
<p>Hannah laughed. “I don't know, really. I was born there and lived there for 18 years and I hate the cold, hell enlisting was in no small part just to get somewhere warmer. Sarah just visited occassionally when we visited my parents while she was growing up. But yes, now that you mention it  she did always love winter.”</p>
<p>“She always insisted she loved the snow, called it 'cozy'. I never quite understood what was so cozy about being cold and miserable... though the hot chocolate is nice I suppose.”</p>
<p>“I think it might be from growing up on ships.” Hannah mused. “It's always temperatue controlled, 21 degrees exactly at all times, and if it isn't you know something's wrong. Most people who live on ships for a long time becomes more sensitive to heat than cold, at least for comfort.”</p>
<p>Liara shivvered. “Don't remind me. I don't think I've ever been out of a thick long sleeved garment for as long as I was on the Normandy.”</p>
<p>“... never?” Hannah smirked.</p>
<p>Liara flushed a deep navy blue as Hannah laughed.</p>
<p>“Was your family military as well?” she asked, trying to look unperturbed.</p>
<p>Hannah shook her head. “No, not at all. The opposite.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “My father was a priest... I don't know how much you know of human religions but some of them teach pacifism. He wasn't against the military per se, but I guess it's not what he had in mind for his only child.” she sombered slightly. “We fought about it a lot before I enlisted. I think I did make him proud in the end, though.”</p>
<p>“I had a similar problem with my mother, as you recall.” Liara replied gently. Hannah nodded, and they slipped into a comfortable silence.</p>
<p>“What kind of priest was, he? Your father, I mean?” Liara asked after a moment. “I admit I'm not very familiar with human religious practices... there's the... God of suffering?”</p>
<p>Hannah chuckled. “I think dad would have phrased it more as 'the God that <i>frees</i> from suffering', but yes, that one.”</p>
<p>Liara flushed slightly. “Sarah has a pendant with a human male nailed to a cross, so I just assumed... honestly I was appaled the first time I saw it.”</p>
<p>“Yes, the imagery is quite gruesome if you're not used to it... some humans think so too. She was always more interested in spirituality than me, so my father left it to her when he passed.” she smiled. “I'm glad she still has it.”</p>
<p>“She doesn't wear it, I don't think.” Liara pondered. “I guess because it's not allowed? She said she keeps it for luck th-” she was cut off as the sound of a heated argument bled through the door from the corridor outside.</p>
<p>Liaras hands instinctivly went to her hips, but not finding her weapons in their usual places, she turned to Hannah. “Are you armed?” Hannah shook her head worriedly, eyeing the door. “Alright,” Liara said, stay behind me. They moved towards the door.</p>
<p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p>
<p>Staring down the barrel of an assault rifle was not  Aethytas idea of a good time, except for under very specific circumstances. Admittedly, her ire at the human love of red tape might have made her less than cordial, but she felt this was a bit of an overreaction even for her famously dour manners.</p>
<p>“Step. Back!” the soldier barked at her again. She raised her hands, placatingly, but didn't move otherwise.</p>
<p>“Look, kid.” she hissed in her gravely voice. “I was breaking skulls a few centuries before you monkeys figured out electricity, so you better have the quad to use that thing or let me the fuck in.”</p>
<p>The door behind the soldiers hissed open, and the one that hadn't adressed her, a female, turned without taking her rifle off  Aethyta. “Doctor, Admiral, we have a situation, please step-”</p>
<p>“Father?” Liaras voice was incredelous, but when  Aethyta took her eyes off the assault rifle currently pointed at her to face her daughter, she saw... relief there. She softened slightly, and finally took a step back.</p>
<p>“Corporal, Private, it's allright.” Liara said, adressing the soldiers. “This is my father, she's no threat to the Commander.”</p>
<p>The one pointing the rifle glanced at his supperior, and when she nodded her head, he slowly lovered his weapon, but kept it at the ready.</p>
<p>“Might try, I don't know, explaning next time, ma'am.” he grumbled to  Aethyta.</p>
<p>“I'm old and haven't eaten in 2 days, kid, you're lucky I flay you just because I'm grumpy.”</p>
<p>“Father,” Liara said with a sigh. “please stop threatening the armed guards and come inside.”</p>
<p>Aethyta strolled through the door. “Yeah yeah, fine, tell Shepard her homeworld sucks by the way, took me 2 days just to-” she was cut off as Liara embraced her in a fierce hug. “I was worried about you,” she whispered into her shoulder. “I'm glad you're safe.”</p>
<p>Aethyta for her part was stunned for a moment. She had, of course, dreamt for a century of having some sort of relationship with her youngest child. That she hadn't pushed Benezzia for this was one of her greatest regrets. She blinked a few times then carefully returned the embrace. “I was worried about you too, kid...” she whispered.</p>
<p>When Liara didn't let go, Aethyta cleared he throat. “So, you gonna introduce me here or what?”</p>
<p>Liara yelped and stepped back. “Yes... yes of course.” </p>
<p>She turned to Hannah, who had been watching the display with a satisfied smile. “Admiral Hannah Shepard, let me introdouce my father, Matriarch Aethyta.”</p>
<p>“I thought I told you to just call me Hannah?” Hannah replied warmly, extending her hand to Aethyta.</p>
<p>“Matriarch, a pleasure to meet you.”</p>
<p>Aethyta shook it, snorting. “Can't really fault her for her formality and then go and do the same thing, just Aethyta please... hell, Thyta if you prefer.”</p>
<p>Hannah rubbed the back of her neck. “A bit hard to be all informal with someone who was 'breaking skulls before we monkeys figured out electricity'.” Hannah replied.</p>
<p>Aethyta blinked at her for a moment and then burst out laughing. “I like you, human.”</p>
<p>“Well,” Hannah said. “given that we seem to be heading towards being in-laws, that would be preferable.”</p>
<p>“You popped the question?”  Aethyta asked, turning to Liara. “How? Is she even awake yet?”</p>
<p>“I, well,” Liara stammered. “I mean I will, once she is. And she is awake, just not that often.”</p>
<p>The other women chuckeld, sharing conspiratorial glances.</p>
<p>“Sarah should be the one to do it, honestly. Dragging you into this mess, a ring is the least she could manage.” Hannah said, still chuckling.</p>
<p>“Ring?”  Aethyta asked her, arching an eyebrow.</p>
<p>“It's what the humans do, dad.” Liara explained.</p>
<p>“Huh...” she replied. “Gets less in the way than the bonding bracelets, I guess.”</p>
<p>“We... haven't talked about it yet.” Liara admitted. “We weren't sure...”</p>
<p>“That there would be a tomorrow?” Hannah supplied for her. Liara nodded. “There's never that guarnatee, is there?”</p>
<p>“No I guess not.” Liara conceded. </p>
<p>“Well, I for one approve.” Hannah said. “I would like to request a priest for the ceremony though, I don't care but my father will come back to haunt me if I don't. You can refuse, of course, but then he might haunt you instead, and let me tell you that man could talk.”</p>
<p>Liara looked incredibly flustered. How had she been roped into this conversation <i>now</i>. “I'll... we'll discuss it but-”</p>
<p>“Liara.” Hannah said, smiling. “Relax. I'm only teasing.</p>
<p>Aethyta had been watching the conversation too and fro. This human and her daughter seemed to be... close. It was odd. She knew, through her observations, that it was unlikely that they had met all that long ago. Then again, if they had both been holding vigil over Shepard this whole time, that did give them ample time to get aquantined. She wasn't jealous, exactly, but she wished she had the same kind of repour with the kid.</p>
<p>“Same here, for what it's worth.” she added. “Shepard threatened to kill me at least once, so I know she's got the quad for it if nothing else.”</p>
<p>“She did <i>what</i>?” Hannah exclaimed.</p>
<p>“It.. happenes more often than you'd think.” Liara said, rubbing her brow.</p>
<p>“Heh... yeah.”  Aethyta said, smiling fondly. “I was kind of implying I'd order a hit on you to test her reaction at the time, so.”</p>
<p>“... your family is odd.” Hannah observed after staring at them blankly for a moment.</p>
<p>“Weird is good, who the hell wants to be boring?”  Aethyta added, then sobered. “So... how is she?” she asked, nodding at the bed.</p>
<p>Liara smiled broadly. “Better every day. She wakes up for a bit most days. For longer each time. They're saying she should start being back to normal, at least mentally, soon.”</p>
<p>“There might be some mobility issues in her legs” Hannah added, but then perked up. “Still, it's a miracle. You blow up the Citadel and all you get out of it is a bit of a limp? That's a good trade, really.”</p>
<p>“I'm just worried she'll feel crippled... what if she wanted to go back to work?”</p>
<p>“Liara, listen.” Hannah said, placing a hand on her arm. “I haven't known you long, but from what I learned speaking with Sarah, and from her letters? All she wanted was a future with you. I don't think she'll object too strongly to just sitting on her ass for the rest of her life as long as you're sitting there together.”</p>
<p>Liara smiled timidly, and Hannah returned it warmly. </p>
<p>“Hell yes.”  Aethyta added. “That's the dream, isn't it? Then again, I'm old so I would say that, wouldn't I...”</p>
<p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p>
<p>After several weeks of fitful sleep lasting days on end, Sarah Shepard finally started to be awake for longer periods of time. A half hour at first, then an hour, then a few. And finally, after nearly 3 months in the hospital she had what could be described as a farily normal sleep cycle. The nightmares were still there, but with medication and, to Liaras suprise, therapy that she readily agreed to, they had been lessened. She was sure that the bonding would also help, but the lack of privacy and Sarahs still rather fragile state made her uneasy about doing something like that quite yet. There was also something... uneasy, about her own mental state as of late. She couldn't quite place it, but it was as if she had a presence in the back of her mind, not quite there yet noticeable in the periphery at all times. The strangest thing was that she wasn't exactly disturbed by it, merely confused.</p>
<p>“No, Commander.” Dr. Karin Chakwas said, leveling her with a disapproving glare, drawing Liara out of her musings.</p>
<p>“Awwww, c'mon Doc!” Sarah whines, she know she sounds petulant, but she's beyond caring. “I'm going stir crazy in here. Look!” she exclaims, pointing to the metal stick leaned against the bedframe. “You even gave me a shiny cane and everything?” when that doesn't work, she huffs. “Fine! You can put me in a wheelchair, I don't care, I just need to see something besides these four walls.”</p>
<p>The implants had done wonders, and aside from some light scarring across her body, perhaps most notable fine pink lines crossing her cheeks and forhead in places, Sarah looked as good as new. Even her hair, singed as it had been when Liara had first seen her bondmate after the battle, now looked healthy and had grown quite a bit into what Samantha had called a 'pixie cut' during her last visit. Sarah, apparently, did not approve. Apparently a 'pixie' was some form of small mythological being that human females of slight physical stature were often compared to. Liara filed it into her 'Annoying Sarah to see her frown' arsenal for later. At the very least it finally answered why Sarah, ever the hardened Allience officer, had mantained rather long hair for as long as Liara had known her, despite it being impractical and quite unusual among the rank and file.</p>
<p>Karins frown deepened. “You broke, everything, and I do mean everything, only a few months ago. That you're even alive is a miracle in itself, I'm not having you go break your spine again and undoing all my hard work because you can't fathom the concept of bed rest.”</p>
<p>Sarah pouted, and Hannah chuckled from her side. “Never a good idea to argue with the CMO, sweetie. Just roll with it. You're doing great, you'll be out before you know it.”</p>
<p>Sarah sighed. “Yeah... ok. Won't be going back to work though.” she said, looking at her right leg somberly. “How is it that these things can rebuild my internal organs and make me live to 300 but they can't make me walk properly?”</p>
<p>“You might see improvement over time, Commander.” Karin said sympathetically. “But nerve damage is a tricky thing. Ms. Lawson had to do that through manual means last time, and is unaware how the technology was developed.”</p>
<p>“Ugh...” Sarah lamented, dropping back to a lying position with a huff. “Can't you just... I don't know, replace the entire thing?”</p>
<p>“Commander!” Karin chided. “While we could do that it would present the same problem, nerves would have to be grafted and they're damaged. I'm sorry but this is just something you'll have to live with.”</p>
<p>“Sarah, love.” Liara said, tentatively. “It will be alright. There's still things to look forward to, isn't there?”</p>
<p>Sarah smiled goofily. “Heh... yeah.”</p>
<p>“You used to be shy and have tact, you know.” Hannah teased her.</p>
<p>“Hey, I'm pretty sure you know I'm red-blooed by now, mom. 'Sides, you always seemed more upset about the whole running towards danger thing.”</p>
<p>“Yes, wonder why.” Hannah replied, frowning.</p>
<p>“Hey, no, mom, I'm sorry.” Sarah said, sounding almost panicked. “I'm sorry.”</p>
<p>It had been like this ever since Sarah started to be more alert. Any reminder that she had caused people pain, or to worry, would make her to nearly, and in some cases to, break down. </p>
<p>“Shh, it's alright sweetie. You're here now, that's what matters. I'll always worry, there's nothing you can do about that.”</p>
<p>“Why don't you rest for a bit, love, and we'll be back and have dinner with you later?” Liara added, bending down and kissing Sarahs forehead.</p>
<p>“Yeah, alright...” Sarah said. Emotional excitement, wether good or bad, still tired her out quickly. “You'll really be back though, right?”</p>
<p>“We promise.” Hannah said gently. “Any preference for dinner?”</p>
<p>“What, there are choices now?”</p>
<p>Hannah laughed. “Fair point. MRE #14, also generously called 'chicken curry' it is.”</p>
<p>“My favorite.” Sarah replied stifling a yawn.</p>
<p>Liara exited the room with Hannah and Karin. Turning to the doctor so spoke. “How is she doing, really?”</p>
<p>“Better than we could have hoped, I wouldn't lie to you, or her, about that.” Karin replied.</p>
<p>“But?” Hannah asked after the doctor had been silent for a moment.</p>
<p>Karin sighed. “Her mental state concerns me. The medication and theraphy has helped, she sleeps through the night most nights now, as Liara has also confirmed. But she seems... volitile. It will take some time still. The panic attacks might be something she'll have to deal with off and on for years, even with treatment.”</p>
<p>Liara looked forlornly back at the door. “Isn't there anything to be done?”</p>
<p>“Well,” Karin pondered. “we are doing what we can. But time heals all wounds, as they say. My asari collegues claim that melding should also aid her over time. After seeing how you helped her order her mind after the prothean beacon, and then after coming back after Alchera, makes me trust these assumptions. Regardless, it's going to be a long road.”</p>
<p>Hannah placed a hand on Liaras shoulder and smiled at her. “Luckily she won't have to walk it alone.”</p>
<p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p>
<p>A few hours later, Liara and Hannah were standing in the mess hall line, waiting to receive their alotted ration, as well as Sarahs.</p>
<p>“So where is your father, anyway?” Hannah asked.</p>
<p>Liara huffed. “Looking for ryncol, she said. Goddess I swear that woman takes the whole half krogan schtick way too seriously.”</p>
<p>Hannah laughed. “Yes, she told me about that. Our grandkids will be 1/8 krogan, apparently.”</p>
<p>“That's <i>not</i> how it works!” Liara exclaimed, to renewed laughter from Hannah.</p>
<p>“So, will any of your crew be joining us?”</p>
<p>“I think I saw Tali at a table, I'm sure we'll be welcome to join her. It's hard keeping track of everyone from in here. I feel like they just keep popping up and disappearing.”</p>
<p>“Mm,” Hannah replied. “it does feel like that when you're not used to sitting still, doesn't it? I haven't been on a planetary surface for this long since I enlisted.”</p>
<p>Liara chuckled as she stretched to grab a water bottle. “Yes, I imagine it must be...” she blinked, suddenly feeling very dizzy. “must be...”</p>
<p>“Liara?” Hannah asked, looking worried.</p>
<p>“I... I don't...” she managed, before she felt the ground tilt under her, Hannah shouting her name the last thing she remembered before she passed out.</p>
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